Red King decisively charged forward. To prevent its fire attribute from clashing with the Snow Empress's ultimate ice, this time it didn't use Hellfire, but attacked purely with physical strength. Red King's three heads simultaneously bit into the Gluttonous Divine Ox's back, causing Xuanzi to let out an earth-shattering roar of pain.
"Devour Heaven and Earth!" The Gluttonous Divine Ox opened its maw, unleashing a powerful suction that could draw all things into its belly. This was one of the Gluttonous Divine Ox's strongest abilities: Devour.
Through Devour, Xuanzi could rapidly recover his soul power, physical strength, spiritual energy, and heal injuries. The target of devouring was unlimited; anything could be devoured—flowers, trees, birds, beasts. This was truly consistent with the legendary, non-picky glutton, the Tao Tie. Of course, it was best to devour living creatures.
Unfortunately, the Gluttonous Divine Ox and the Three-Headed Hellhound, two massive beasts, battling in the forest had already scared away all birds from a thousand mountains nearby. Apart from the few of them, there wasn't a single living creature left.
Xuanzi was rich in combat experience. He did not choose to clash head-on with the Snow Empress. Because he could tell that although the Snow Empress was in her full power state, for some unknown reason, she was summoned by Yuwen Tuo.
With Yuwen Tuo's power, how long could he maintain the summon of a top-tier powerhouse like the Snow Empress? Ten or twenty minutes at most. Therefore, his strategy was to use the powerful endurance of the Gluttonous Divine Ox Martial Soul to outlast them. Unless the Snow Empress could instantly kill him, she wouldn't be able to easily defeat him.
Xuanzi still seemed to have some confidence in himself. But the question was, could the Snow Empress really not instantly kill him? If he thought so, he truly underestimated the Snow Empress. How could the Snow Empress allow him to recover like that?
"Empress's Heavenly Frost - Snow Dance Dazzling Sun!"
One of the Snow Empress's Three Peerless Techniques, a domain ability, capable of freezing a thousand li. If fused with the Ice Empress's Everfrost Domain, it could combine into the Extreme North's strongest domain, the Snow Dance Extreme Ice Domain.
It was a pity that Yuwen Tuo had not obtained the Ice Empress's domain ability. To fully reproduce this strongest ice-elemental domain, he would have to wait until his spiritual power was sufficient to simultaneously summon both the Ice and Snow Empresses.
However, Snow Dance Dazzling Sun was sufficient for now. The sky was covered in chilling winds, enveloping the entire battlefield. The Gluttonous Divine Ox's devouring ability frantically consumed all things, too late to stop, even swallowing the Snow Empress's cold aura. But the Snow Empress's ultimate ice was not so easily swallowed. Xuanzi felt his internal organs instantly frozen.
"Empress Sword - Peerless Ice Extremity!" The Snow Empress's final peerless technique. Above her, a deep blue longsword, seemingly condensed from ice crystals, materialized, so vast it overshadowed the sky.
"Slash!"
The Snow Empress swung her arm, and the longsword fiercely chopped down. This strike was immensely powerful, changing the very weather phenomena around them. The Star Dou Great Forest, normally sunny and blessed with fair winds and rains, was now experiencing a blizzard.
Xuanzi couldn't avoid this move. His body was still being fiercely bitten by Red King, who refused to let go. Even if Red King couldn't defeat him, it was still one of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts. He wanted to shake it off, but it wasn't so easy.
Even in a one-on-one fight, Xuanzi would undoubtedly lose to the Snow Empress, let alone a two-on-one. It was even difficult for him to escape. Although the Snow Empress's ultimate ice and the Ice Empress's ultimate ice had the same attribute, their natures were somewhat different.
The Ice Empress's ultimate ice focused more on sharpness, being utterly unyielding. The Snow Empress's ultimate ice, however, was stronger in coldness, approaching the legendary absolute zero.
When the Snow Empress summoned the sky-filling snow and wind, any opponent she battled would easily suffer from the invading cold qi, making movement difficult. Xuanzi was currently almost completely frozen.
Finally, this incredibly powerful sword strike entered the Gluttonous Divine Ox's back and exited its belly. Xuanzi's formidable physique was actually pierced through by the Snow Empress's sword, thin as a sheet of paper.
"Truly an overbearing sword," Yuwen Tuo lamented.
After reaching Title Douluo Rank 95, each step was like ascending to heaven. Especially between Rank 98 and 99, the gap was a chasm. Facing the complete Snow Empress, Xuanzi simply couldn't be her opponent. Unless Mu En was by his side.
In the original story's later stages, during the beast tide, Xuanzi, with Mu En's help, could activate his Tao Tie bloodline and single-handedly hold off Di Tian. This was also why Yuwen Tuo had to deal with him before confronting Mu En.
If these two joined forces, they would be extremely difficult to handle. The Gluttonous Divine Ox could be considered a super martial soul, and Tao Tie, being even higher, was closer to the Dragon God than even the Golden-eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian within the dragon race.
Unfortunately, Mu En was not here today. Xuanzi's martial soul could not evolve into a Tao Tie by himself. He was definitely no match for the Snow Empress.
"Hmm? No, his life aura hasn't completely vanished?" The Snow Empress frowned. After taking such a powerful sword strike from her, theoretically, a mere Rank 98 Titled Douluo should have no chance of survival. She had indeed felt Xuanzi's life aura rapidly fading, but just as he was about to completely die, it was as if some power locked onto his last wisp of vitality.
At this moment, the Snow Empress noticed Xuanzi's ninth soul ring flashing.
"Ninth Soul Skill, Earth's Profound Mystery — Power of Life!" Xuanzi pressed his four limbs to the ground. From the earth, a continuous stream of power was devoured by him. The surrounding flowers and trees rapidly withered.
"So you're relying on devouring the earth's life force to preserve your own life. Good one, Xuanzi. In terms of devouring ability, which evil soul master can compare to you?" Yuwen Tuo mocked.
Xuanzi's move was like a Pokémon with a Focus Sash, and one that activated 100% of the time. As long as there was life in the ground within a ten-li radius centered on him, he would not die, able to perfectly cling to his last shred of vitality.
"Hmph, tough life. You took my Snow Empress's Three Peerless Techniques head-on and still aren't dead. But if this Empress cleaves off your head, what good will devouring more life force do you?" the Snow Empress said coldly. She raised her ice sword and chopped down again.
The sword's edge sliced into the Gluttonous Divine Ox's neck, slowly pushing forward.
"Bastard!!!" Blood seeped from the corner of Xuanzi's mouth. He knew that if this continued, his head would truly be chopped off by the Snow Empress. "At least, I'll take this bastard down with me!"
Xuanzi's eyes suddenly filled with a crazed, blood-red light. He couldn't let Yuwen Tuo live. Otherwise, this guy's future threat to Shrek Academy would be too great.
Xuanzi opened his mouth, and the Gluttonous Divine Ox's devouring power reappeared. But this time, what Xuanzi devoured was no longer external objects, but his own nine soul rings. Two yellow, two purple, four black, and one red—one by one,
the soul rings were swallowed into his belly. Each time he devoured a soul ring, his aura would suddenly strengthen by three tenths. Until the ninth red, 100,000-year soul ring was also swallowed, his power had reached an incomparably terrifying level.
"Moo!"
An ox's roar echoed through heaven and earth.
Red King and the Snow Empress were both shaken back by this ultimate strike.
Endless momentum stirred up a doomsday gale, causing Yuwen Tuo's entire body to sting.
"Is this... Soul Ring Devour?" Yuwen Tuo hadn't expected Xuanzi to possess such a mutually destructive ability. The original work never mentioned it. It seems one can't fully trust books. These old monsters probably all had hidden trump cards they hadn't revealed.
Xuanzi's move was somewhat similar to the Clear Sky Hammer's Exploding Ring but fundamentally different. Exploding Ring could be recovered from, but Soul Ring Devour was truly a once-in-a-lifetime ultimate move;
once the soul rings were devoured, they were gone forever. This meant that, regardless of whether Xuanzi won or lost this battle, he had no future. If he won, he would be a cripple. If he lost, he would, of course, be dead.
In the air, Xuanzi's body began to gradually shrink. Because his seventh soul ring had also been devoured by himself, he had exited his Martial Soul Avatar state and reverted to human form. However, the aura he emitted at this moment was even stronger than before.
"Yuwen Tuo, this old man will definitely cleanse Shrek Academy's internal affairs today! Gluttonous Meteor Shower!" Behind Xuanzi, countless enormous yellow light clusters instantly formed, descending like a meteor shower,
sweeping towards the ground like a true divine wrath, seemingly without end. The entire sky appeared to be torn apart. This was a move Xuanzi had used in the original work when fighting against Poison Douluo; it was a super-wide-range attack.
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